The Mayo Clinic Center for Translational Science Activities (CTSA) will collaborate with Mayo Health System (MHS) to plan, pilot, and eventually implement a community-based research network that links Mayo Clinic Rochester with the 66 surrounding communities served by MHS. The planning/piloting phase will test solutions that can be employed in diverse settings around the country to develop a National Clinical Research Associates network as envisioned by the RAND report and NIH/NCRR. The planning process will encompass three specific aims: 1) build practitioner and community support for the vision of the MHS/CTSA research network; 2) plan for the creation within MHS of a cadre of practices who are trained and prepared to conduct clinical research; and 3) develop/prioritize specific projects for consideration as pilot projects for the network. To accomplish these aims, three workgroups will be formed with representation from Mayo Clinic Rochester, Mayo Clinic CTSA, and MHS. The workgroups will address barriers to community-based research identified in the RAND report, and also in an independent survey of MHS clinicians conducted by the MHS Research Committee last year. The workgroups are: 1) Network Operations, charged with providing services/infrastructure to support clinical research by MHS practitioners. Specific issues to be addressed include bioinformatics support, grant development, and provision of study coordinator services. 2) Regulatory/Compliance, charged with developing a system for providing IRB services and RSA oversight for MHS sites, as well as a method for training and credentialing clinicians who wish to conduct clinical research. 3) Practitioner Compensation, charged with developing a system that fairly compensates clinicians for their research activities and provides incentives to conduct clinical research. The three workgroups will have access to the full technical, clinical, and administrative expertise of both Mayo Clinic Rochester and MHS. Deliverables for the workgroups (to be achieved by the end of the one-year project period) include a CTSA/Mayo Health System Network Vision and Strategic Plan, list of themes from town meetings with MHS physicians and a communication plan for building support, as well as the designation of two protocols ready to be implemented as pilot projects, and final reports from each workgroup, including evaluation metrics. [unreadable] [unreadable] Mayo Clinic CTSA and MHS recognize the urgent need to conduct research in the communities where patients live and work, so that research will focus on their actual health needs, and results will quickly be applied in the real world. The MHS/CTSA research network will provide training, resources, and incentives for community-based practitioners who wish to conduct clinical/translational research to benefit their patients. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]